Jewish U.S. soldier buried next to Nazis for 80 years moved to Allied cemetery

A Jewish American soldier buried alongside the Nazis during World War II has been exhumed and laid to rest with his fellow soldiers.

Eighty years after his death, the remains of 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind were buried Sunday at Normandy American Cemetery with full military honors and a Star of David headstone.

Baskind, of Pittsburgh, was reportedly buried in a German mass grave when machine gun fire cut short his life after Allied troops stormed Normandy in 1944. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day and led an armored division behind enemy lines after intense fighting that changed the course of the war in Europe.

"He will finally be laid to rest with his American brothers and sisters in arms who fought with him to defeat fascism and restore democracy," U.S. Consul to Western France Elizabeth Webster said at Sunday's ceremony.

Baskind and his driver were ambushed on June 23, 1944, during the Battle of Cherbourg while on a reconnaissance mission. His parents are reported to be long dead, unaware of the whereabouts of their son, who was drafted into the army in 1942 when he was 26.

Webster called him an "American hero."

Baskind's grandniece Samantha Baskind said at Sunday's ceremony that the fallen soldier's middle initial could have meant "brother." She bases this theory on the fact that Baskind's twin sister's middle name was legally "Sister" because the couple's Russian-born parents may not have understood the bureaucratic procedures involved in birth certificates.

After nearly eight decades of lying beside his enemies, Baskin's remains began their journey to a proper grave in 2022 when an American genealogist visiting a cemetery for German soldiers saw his last name on a mass grave and contacted Operation Benjamin, an organization that searches for Jewish soldiers who have received Christian burials in American military cemeteries.

Thousands of bone fragments in Baskind's grave were reportedly exhumed in December and identified through DNA analysis. German soldiers returned the remains to a U.S. air base in May.

"After 80 years, we finally welcomed 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind home," Operation Benjamin wrote on Facebook Monday. "We are honored to bring Baskind's family back to life after so many years."

According to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, 550,000 Jews served in the U.S. military during World War II. Nearly 9,400 Americans are buried in the Normandy American Cemetery.